Comments on: Summer Holidays – Day 1

By: Pewari

Pewari — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:47:11 +0000

Thanks for the tips, BW :) We do a fair amount already. Our main problem is that he has the fine motor control now, but not when he was learning to write. So he simply didn’t know that you don’t write an a like an alpha shape (so teaching him the basic starting point of going round up and down is making a huge difference already)

At the moment he’s finding it fun – as if it were a puzzle book or other activity book. I’m not pushing it though and will do some more of your suggested activities when the novelty wears off!

By: Blue Witch

Blue Witch — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:51:16 +0000

Icing with a piping bag/nozzle too is a good one. If you do it onto greasproof paper (maybe with a simple line design from a colouring book underneath to trace over), you can scrape it off and reuse it.

By: Blue Witch

Blue Witch — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:49:19 +0000

I hope you’re all surviving still!

In case you’re not aware already, for a child of 8 with poor handwriting, more of the same (ie repetitive handwriting exercises that tend to be boring and what they’ve already not managed to succeed at at school – er sorry, dreadful sentence) are unlikely to be the best way to improve his fine motor skills.

Do you do activities such as dot-to-dots, mazes, sewing on binca of Aida, cutting and sticking, colouring in? All these things (and anything else that requires manual dexterity) will be much more fun, and the results will have a surprising carry over.

I would also recommend the Brain Gym exercise programme (parents and teachers books are published) for such a situation.